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Every business can benefit from the Internet of Things – just start small and choose wisely when deciding which operations you want to target Does your workplace have smart lighting that only comes on when it detects motion? Does your heating and air conditioning work in a similar way? Or maybe you have a refrigerator in the kitchen that orders food direct from the supermarket when supplies run low.

Advances in technology and logistics allow businesses to expand across borders more easily, but understanding and overcoming the psychological barriers to expansion abroad is crucial to giving your global growth plans a head-start.

Poised to be every bit as disruptive as the internet revolution, is your business ready for the rise of the sharing economy?

Linda Beal on the shake-up in mining and how it creates the perfect storm for M&A in the sector

Nathan Goode calls for a change of narrative in the sustainability debate.

Nathan Goode welcome growth opportunities extra government scrutiny brings

The technology sector is riding the crest of a wave. We interview approximately 150 technology companies around the world every quarter through our International Business Report (IBR) and what’s struck me since the beginning of the year is how bullish the leaders of these companies are about their growth prospects.

One of the greatest challenges with using social media strategically is measuring its success. Boards need to understand how social media is helping meet their strategic objectives and need to set goals and define success early in the planning stage. Measurement is crucial to understanding whether these goals have been achieved.

We launched our annual M&A report – ‘Dynamic businesses at the forefront of M&A optimism’ – in Hong Kong last week. The report has provoked a good deal of debate and I just wanted to share two highlights from the data.

I read a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal the other day which suggested that my region could broadly be thought of as two separate entities.

The lure of China’s less well-known cities and the opportunities they present has been picking up speed for years, along with their impressive growth. In fact, while they are often described as ‘second-tier’ cities, many are in fact now wealthier than their ‘first-tier’ counterparts.

John Geldart has spent a lot of time in China over recent years. It is an amazing country which fascinates and surprises him every time he returns, but perhaps no more so than over the past few months when he has been lucky enough to interview the chairmen of some of its most dynamic companies.

Today, it can be more or less instantaneous – creating a new set of opportunities and threats. Digital platforms allow companies to build and scale using teams based anywhere in the world. As a result tech companies are going global from day one. A new wave of support services is also helping tech firms expand across borders. For example in order to manage the complexity of operating across borders, tech companies are increasingly outsourcing back office functions such as tax, compliance, legal, and HR. Tech companies can simply 'switch-on' a back-office team as they enter new jurisdictions.

Depending on their level of business maturity, the challenge for tech companies is slightly different – but the principles remain same: grow or die. To be the next billion-dollar technology brand, CEOs need to figure out how to scale and normalise faster than their rivals – without compromising the DNA of their rivals Protecting the core The good news is that cloud and on-demand enterprise servies are making expansion cheaper and less complex that ever before. Scaling tech companies can use systematising tools like Jira to track issues and manage dispersed software builds. Meanwhile, collaboration tools like Yammer, Skype and Base camp allow for close teamwork between decentralised teams.

Stefano Salvadeo was interviewed on Focus Economia di Radio 24 recently to discuss some positive indicators regarding M&A activity in Italy.

Reviewing the Q2 International Business Report (IBR[1]) results, I was pleased to see some good news for construction & real estate companies: Profitability expectations around the world are up. However, my optimism is tempered somewhat by recent news from China and it will be interesting to see how businesses react in Q3.